Synlett 2018; 29(04): 383-387
DOI: 10.1055/s-0036-1591532
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© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Iron-Catalyzed Wacker-Type Oxidation

Binbin Liu
a   Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Biofunctional Materials, Key Laboratory of Applied Photochemistry, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, Wenyuan Road No. 1, Nanjing 210023, P. R. of China
,
Wei Han  *
a   Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Biofunctional Materials, Key Laboratory of Applied Photochemistry, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, Wenyuan Road No. 1, Nanjing 210023, P. R. of China
b   Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Biomedical Functional Materials, Nanjing 210023, P. R. of China   Email: hanwei@njnu.edu.cn
› Author Affiliations
This work was sponsored by the Natural Science Foundation of China (21776139, 21302099), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20161553), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Provincial Colleges and Universities (16KJB150019), the SRF for ROCS, SEM, the Qing Lan project of Nanjing Normal University, and the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions
Further Information

Publication History

Received: 03 December 2017

Accepted after revision: 27 December 2017

Publication Date:
29 January 2018 (online)


Abstract

Compared with the widespread use of Pd-catalyzed Wacker-type oxidation of olefins, iron catalysis for this transformation is almost virgin territory. Our work on an iron-catalyzed Wacker-type oxidation through reductive activation of dioxygen is discussed here. This novel single-electron-transfer process not only addresses the issues of the Pd-catalyzed two-electron Wacker-type oxidation, but also possesses unprecedented functional-group tolerance and chemoselectivity. Importantly, the catalytic system uses ambient air as the sole oxidant, and it permits late-stage oxidations of complex molecules.